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1 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales Important information you need to read

2 The Financial Conduct Authority is an independent financial services regulator. It requires us, Prudential, to give you this important information to help you decide whether our Local Government AVC Scheme is right for you. You should read this information carefully so that you understand what you are buying and then keep it safely for future reference. Braille, large print or audio versions of this booklet are available. 2 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

3 Welcome This booklet is the Key Features for the Local Government AVC Scheme. Please read it and keep it in a safe place. Please also read A Guide to Fund Options and Your With-Profits Plan a guide to how we manage the Fund. If you still have questions about our Local Government AVC Scheme after reading this booklet, please call us on If you have a financial adviser, please contact them in the first instance. You may be charged for any advice. Throughout this booklet where we refer to your normal retirement date this will mean your normal pension age as provided for under the rules of your Local Government Pension Scheme applicable at the time you joined the AVC arrangement with us. Scheme rules could change in the future. For new members in England & Wales from 1 April 2014, your pensionable pay includes your variable pay (which may include bonus pay and overtime pay which does not form part of your contract). Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 3

4 About our Local Government AVC Scheme It is an arrangement designed to: i) help you to accumulate a pot of money to provide additional pension and/or lump sum for your retirement and/or ii) provide additional life cover in the event of your death. It is subject to the rules of the Local Government Pension Scheme as they apply to your local authority at the date you elected to join the AVC scheme. Taking out this product will meet the demand and need of a main scheme member wishing to make additional pension provision to meet their financial requirements in retirement. Its aim To help you save for your retirement in a tax-efficient way and/or to provide additional benefits for your beneficiaries in the event you die in service. Your commitment To make payments into your plan. If you are saving for your retirement, to allow the money in your plan to grow until you take your retirement benefits 4 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

5 Risks The value of the investments that make up your plan can go down as well as up. The value can even fall below the amount you invested. We explain this in Where do you invest my contributions? on page 7. There are different risks for different funds. You can find information about each fund in A Guide to Fund Options. If money is taken out of the With-Profits Fund at any time other than your normal retirement date or on your death, the amount payable may be reduced to reflect the value of the underlying assets at that time. This is known as a Market Value Reduction (MVR). We explain this in What s a Market Value Reduction? on page 14. If you withdraw any funds within 3 years of receipt of your first AVC pension contribution an exit charge may apply. For more information see What are the charges? on page 12. Tax rules may change in the future. We explain this in What are the tax advantages of investing in the Local Government AVC Scheme on page 9. Inflation will reduce what you can buy in the future. If the total charges taken from your plan are more than any overall growth achieved, your plan will fall in value, possibly to even less than you have invested. We explain this in What are the charges? on page 12. Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 5

6 Q&As Who can make contributions into the AVC scheme? As long as you are an active member of the LGPS, you are eligible to contribute to the AVC scheme. You can pay AVC contributions in relation to each job where you are an active LGPS member. Your employer may also contribute to an AVC arrangement for you, at its discretion. Councillors in England and members of the London Assembly only As you are only able to contribute to the AVC when you are an active member of the LGPS, your AVC will automatically cease when the term of office you were serving on 1 April 2014 ends or at age 75 if earlier. How much can I pay into the AVC Scheme? Employees in England & Wales whose AVC plan commenced before 1 April 2014 and all Councillors in England & Wales The maximum level of contributions you can make to this AVC arrangement is restricted to 50% of your pensionable pay. Employees in England & Wales and members of the London Assembly whose AVC plan started on or after 1 April 2014 You can contribute up to 100% of your pay (subject to other deductions made by your employer). How much tax relief am I eligible for? Your total contributions to this AVC scheme, the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and any other pension arrangement is subject to maximum tax relief on your contributions of up to 100% of your earnings. You are limited to the total amount of pension savings you can build up each year and over your lifetime before incurring a tax charge. These allowances are called the Annual Allowance and the Lifetime Allowance. For more information on these allowances please see page 9. Your employer will take your payments directly from your pay and send them to us. 6 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

7 The Government provide a benefit known as Pension Credit. If you have little or no other retirement provision, the pension you receive from this plan could reduce the benefit you receive from the Pension Credit. The exact effect will depend on the rules in place when you retire. For further information about Pension Credit please see your financial adviser. Where do you invest my contributions? You choose which funds you would like to invest your money in, from the fund range available, agreed with your local authority. We use your money to buy units in these funds. The price of each unit depends on the value of the assets in the fund and also whether more money is going into or out of the fund. Please refer to your Guide to Fund Options for more information. Different funds offer investment in different types of asset. For example, some only invest in property, others invest in a wide range of assets, and others invest directly in the stockmarket. Each fund has its own level of potential growth and risk. Usually funds with more potential for growth carry more risk. The performance of the funds isn t guaranteed. The value of your units can go down as well as up. If it goes down, you could have less money in your plan than you paid in. For information about the Funds you can choose from, please read A Guide to Fund Options and Your With-Profits Plan a guide to how we manage the Fund. Can I switch my money between funds? You can switch your money between funds at any time. We currently don t charge you for this. If this changes in the future we will let your pension scheme administrator know. We may apply a Market Value Reduction if you switch money out of our With-Profits Fund. For more information about this, please read What s a Market Value Reduction? on page 14. Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 7

8 Can I take money out of my plan? You can t withdraw money from your plan. It can only be used to provide you with retirement or death benefits. For more information about this, please read How do I turn the value of my AVC pot into an income? on page 18. The minimum age from which you can access your personal or occupational pension is expected to increase from 55 to 57 in 2028 and remain at 10 years below the State Pension age. Can I transfer my plan? You can transfer your fund to another pension arrangement at any time. You may hold pension pots in different categories, such as money purchase and defined benefit pensions. Under new rules you are able to transfer different categories of pension savings separately and to different places, for example, keep a defined benefit pension where it is, but transfer any money purchase pension. If you transfer a pension pot within a category, you can still accumulate money within the category once the transfer has taken place. You can transfer you pension savings in a category at any time as long as you have not purchased an annuity from the same category. For more information, please speak to your financial adviser or visit The Pension Advisory service website at Can I transfer money from another pension scheme into this one? Should you wish to transfer any funds into the AVC scheme you should approach your main scheme administrator in the first instance. 8 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

9 Can I combine my benefits? England & Wales employees only If you change local government employer and choose to combine your main scheme benefits you may also need to combine your AVC. This will normally result in a new AVC plan being created. The new plan, including previous transferred in and any future payments (including top-ups), will be subject to the new 2014 scheme rules which came into effect on 1 April To understand more about how this would impact you then please speak to your scheme administrator for further information. All Councillors in England & Wales You may be able to combine your LGPS memberships as a Councillor provided they are in the same local authority. In this case, you will also be able to combine your AVC plans. This will not impact the scheme rules applying to your plan. What are the tax advantages of investing in the Local Government AVC Scheme? Tax Relief AVCs are deducted from your salary before tax and passed to Prudential for investment. This means if you normally pay tax you ll qualify for immediate tax relief on your payments, so for every 100 that goes in your pension pot, it will cost you 80, with the 20 normally paid to the taxman going into your pension instead. If you re a higher rate taxpayer, it ll only cost you 60, with 40 going into your pension instead of the taxman. Annual Allowance The Government limits the amount that can be paid each year, to all your pensions, before incurring a tax charge. This is called the Annual Allowance. If this is exceeded, you may be liable to a tax charge and must inform HMRC through the completion of a tax return. You may be able to carry forward unused allowance from the last three years to increase your limit for the current year. Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 9

10 Your Annual Allowance includes all contributions from you, your employer, any third party and increases in the value of any salary related pension benefits you may have. Most people won t have pension savings worth more than the lifetime allowance. If your pension savings are worth more than this when you take your benefits, you ll have to pay the lifetime allowance tax charge on the excess unless you have some form of lifetime allowance protection. Tax is a complicated subject and you may wish to seek advice if you feel this will affect you. For more information please visit or visit the HMRC website at Money Purchase Annual Allowance The Money Purchase Annual Allowance (MPAA) may apply to you if you have flexibly accessed pension benefits on, or after 6th April Your pension scheme or provider will have informed you if you have flexibly accessed your pension benefits. Examples or drawing benefits flexibly include taking income from flexi-access drawdown or a cash lump sum (Uncrystallised Funds Pensions Lump Sum). For more information visit Lifetime Allowance There is no limit on how big your pension fund can grow to, however you will have a lifetime allowance in relation to the maximum amount of tax-relieved benefits you can build up over your lifetime. If you think you are affected by this limit you can get more information visit or the HMRC website at Tax rules require careful consideration and you should speak to a financial adviser. 10 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

11 Capital Gains Tax You don t pay capital gains tax on your pension funds. Tax-free lump sum If you draw your AVC at the same time as your LGPS pension, you will be able to take your AVC as a 100% tax free cash lump sum (as long as your total lump sums from the LGPS do not exceed 25% of the combined value of your benefits including your AVC fund). To find out more information, please read Can I take any of the money invested in my AVC pot as a lump sum? on page 19. Income Tax Any pension income will be taxed as earned income. This information is based on our understanding of current taxation, legislation and HM Revenue & Customs practice. These tax rules could change in the future without notice. The impact of taxation and any tax relief depends on your individual circumstances. For more information about tax, please go to HMRC s website: Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 11

12 What are the charges? We make charges for managing your plan and your investments. The amount we charge depends on the funds you invest in. For more information, please read A Guide to Fund Options. For most funds we calculate the charge daily and take it monthly from your plan by cancelling units. We calculate the charge for the With-Profits Fund differently. In addition to our Product Charges, there may be some additional costs which may impact the overall performance of the fund. These costs include trading, dealing costs and property expenses. More information about these may be found in the Fund Guide. Exit Charge If you withdraw any funds within 3 years of receipt of your first AVC pension contribution, an exit charge, which was introduced on 19 August 2012, may apply. Even when an exit charge applies, investing in an AVC for less than 3 years could still be worthwhile. The table below shows the charges. Year of withdrawal % of fund withdrawn Withdrawal during Year 1 Withdrawal during Year 2 Withdrawal during Year 3 Withdrawal after year 3 3% 2% 1% No Charge The exit charge will be applied after any Market Value Reduction has been applied to any disinvestment from the With-Profits Fund. Please see What is a Market Value Reduction? for more details. In what situations will the exit charge apply? The main situations where an exit charge will apply are: Transfers to an alternative pension arrangement, including an alternative AVC. Retirements at any date with the exception of where benefits are being taken on the grounds of ill health. 12 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

13 Where you take a short service refund from your scheme and AVC; and the value of your AVC fund (after charges) is greater than the value of the contributions paid. When will an exit charge not apply? An exit charge will not apply if moneys are withdrawn due to: Death. Switches between investment funds. Retirement on the grounds of ill health. Pension sharing on divorce. With-Profits Fund charges The With-Profits Fund s management charge depends on the performance of the With-Profits Fund, in particular the investment return and our expenses. If, for example, over time investment returns are higher then we would expect to increase the charges and if investment returns are lower we would expect to reduce the charges. We currently expect this charge to be 0.8% a year, based on the assumption that future investment returns from the With-Profits Fund will be 5% per year. We deduct this charge through the bonus mechanism. With-Profits guarantee charges There is a charge to pay for all the guarantees the With-Profits Fund supports. We guarantee not to apply a Market Value Reduction (MVR) in certain circumstances, e.g. when payments are made because of death or at your normal retirement date. Please see What s a Market Value Reduction? for more details. You won t see this charge on your annual statement because we take it by adjusting regular and final bonuses. The total deduction for guarantee charges over the lifetime of your plan is not currently more than 2% of any payment made from the fund. Charges may vary if, for example, the long term mix or type of assets held within the With-Profits Fund is changed. For more information about bonuses and charges, please read Your With-Profits Plan a guide to how we manage the Fund. Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 13

14 Please remember that we ll keep taking our charges, even if you stop your regular payments. Our charges may vary in the future and may be higher than they are now. Further details can be obtained by referring to the scheme policy conditions which are held by the scheme administrator. What s a Market Value Reduction? If you take money out of the With-Profits Fund, we may adjust the value of your fund if the value of the underlying assets is less than the value of your plan including all bonuses. This would also apply if the trustees of your plan transferred part, or all, of the scheme. This adjustment is known as a Market Value Reduction (MVR). It is designed to protect investors who are not taking their money out and its application means that you get a return based on the earnings of the With-Profits Fund over the period your payments have been invested. We apply the MVR to your plan s value including regular and final bonuses. Please read Your With-Profits Plan a guide to how we manage the Fund for more information on bonuses. An MVR will reduce the amount payable on full or partial withdrawals and if investment returns have been very poor, you may get back less than you have invested in your plan. We guarantee not to apply an MVR at your normal retirement date or on any claims due to death. Our current practice on applying an MVR We may apply a Market Value Reduction to full or partial withdrawals as a result of switches or transfers on all investments that have been running for less than five years. For investments that have been running for longer periods, we would consider applying an MVR when a withdrawal results in the total amount paid out, including any other payments in the previous 12 months, exceeding 25,000. We would only apply an MVR to the withdrawal amount in excess of 25,000 in these circumstances. As plans approach the selected retirement date, the size of any MVR that would apply could be expected to reduce gradually. 14 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

15 We reserve the right to change our current practice on Market Value Reduction at any time, without prior notice, and this would apply to existing plans, any new plans or topups. Examples of reasons for a change would include significant changes in the investment market or because the number of people moving out of the fund increases substantially. How long can I pay into the AVC? All employees in England & Wales and Councillors in Wales If you wish, you can continue contributing to the AVC until you retire, leave service or until the eve of your 75th birthday if earlier. If you change employer, you may need to start a new AVC plan. Councillors in England and members of the London Assembly You can continue contributing to the AVC until the term of office you were serving on 1 April 2014 ends, or until you retire or reach age 75 if earlier. How will I know how my plan is doing? We send you an annual statement, which shows how your plan is doing. Alternatively, you can phone our Customer Service Centre on and a member of our team will give you an up-to-date valuation. What if I want to cancel my plan? You cannot cancel your plan and receive a refund of contributions. However, you can reduce or stop your contributions at any point. Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 15

16 What happens if I leave service? If you leave the LGPS, your AVC contributions will stop and your AVC plan will remain invested. Any charges will continue to be taken until you take your benefits. If you are paying AVC contributions for additional life cover, your cover will stop when you leave. You can restart contributions when you rejoin the main scheme. However, this will normally mean that you need to start a new AVC plan. Note: If you are Councillor in England or a member of the London Assembly, you will be unable to continue paying contributions, restart or begin a new AVC plan after the term of office you were serving on 1 April 2014 has ended. Alternatively, if you transfer your main scheme benefits, you must also transfer your AVC plan, to another Registered Pension Scheme. Where your employer has provided you with a refund of main scheme contributions, your AVC account will normally also be refunded. This refund is subject to a statutory tax deduction, currently 20% on any refund up to 20,000 and 50% on any excess. We may apply an MVR to any monies taken out of the With-Profits Fund. Please refer to What s a Market Value Reduction? on page 14. Other LGPS options available Employees in England & Wales and members of the London Assembly If you are an employee, or a member of the London Assembly, the LGPS offers you an alternative option to make additional contributions for your retirement which will improve your LGPS benefits. For more information, please contact your main scheme administrator. Note: this option is not available to you if you are a Councillor in England or Wales. Life Cover You can use AVCs to fund additional Life Cover for yourself, your spouse and/or dependants. The cost of this cover increases every three years, for the level of cover selected. The end date of your life cover will be dependant on the scheme rules which applied when you elected to join your AVC. 16 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

17 Employees in England & Wales whose plan commenced before 1 April 2014 and all Councillors in Wales Your life cover will normally end at age 65. Cover will end sooner if you stop paying contributions, leave service/ office or when you retire. Employees in England & Wales whose plan commenced on or after 1 April 2014 Your life cover will normally end at your normal retirement date under the 2014 Scheme. This will be the date you reach your State Pension Age. Cover will end sooner if you stop paying contributions, leave service or when you retire. Councillors in England and members of the London Assembly Your life cover will normally end when the term of office you were serving on 1 April 2014 ends. Cover will end sooner if you stop paying contributions, retire or reach your normal retirement age. For councillors in England, your normal retirement age is age 65. For members of the London Assembly, your normal retirement age is your State Pension Age. When can I start taking my benefits? The Government currently allows people to start taking their benefit from the age of 55, even if you are still working. You may be able to start taking your benefits early if you re in ill health. The minimum age from which you can access your personal or occupational pension is expected to increase from 55 to 57 in 2028 and remain at 10 years below the State Pension age. State Pension age will increase from age 66 to age 67 for males and females between 6 April 2026 and 5 April These ages may change in future as result of changes in life expectancy and other factors. Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 17

18 Introduction of the new State Pension Those who attain State Pension age on or after 6 April 2016 may be entitled to a new flat rate State Pension. This will replace the previous basic State Pension and additional State Pension from this date. For more information visit our website at to your financial adviser or visit the Money Advice Service. You are currently required to take your benefits by age 75. However, you are unable to take your AVC benefits before your main LGPS scheme benefits. Employees in England & Wales and members of the London Assembly whose AVC plan commenced on or after 1 April 2014 Unless you are taking flexible retirement, the AVC must be taken at the same time as your main scheme benefits. All other AVC members You can draw your AVC benefits at the same time as your main scheme benefits or you may defer taking your AVC benefits for any length of time up to the eve of your 75th birthday. How do I turn the value of my AVC pot into an income? The value of your AVC pot includes money you ve invested, less charges plus any growth. This value is known as your pension fund. You can use your fund to buy an income known as an annuity. In return for some or all of the money invested in your plan, you ll be paid a regular income for the rest of your life. Whatever you decide to do with your pension, you don t have to stay with us. If you choose to use your pension to provide an income, you should shop around. Depending on the choices you make, you may be able to get a higher income elsewhere, so it s important you consider this. 18 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

19 If you or your partner have a medical condition this could mean you are entitled to a higher income in retirement. Remember that you should shop around for your income and other companies may cover different conditions to us and may use different criteria which means you could get more or less income elsewhere. If you retire with immediate payment of LGPS benefits, you may also be able to use your AVC fund to buy a top-up LGPS pension. Can I take any of the money invested in my AVC pot as a lump sum? You can take a percentage of your AVC as a tax-free lump sum. If you prefer, you can also use some or all of your plan value to provide a taxable retirement income. If you are an employee or a member of the London Assembly, you may also be able to use your AVC plan to buy a top-up LGPS pension, subject to scheme rules. You do not have this option if you are a Councillor in England or Wales. The minimum age from which you can access your personal or occupational pension is expected to increase from 55 to 57 in 2028 and remain at 10 years below the State Pension age. Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 19

20 All members whose AVC plan commenced prior to 1 April 2014 AVCs give you choice. The choice over when to retire, how much you retire on and therefore what you do in retirement. In order to take the value of your AVC fund wholly as cash, you must draw your AVC benefits at the same time as your LGPS pension. Depending on your individual circumstances you can use your AVC plan as you wish (when you decide to start taking your benefits from your scheme), you can: take up to 100% of the plan as a tax-free lump sum (as long as this isn t more than 25% of the total value of your LGPS pension benefits taken). In order to take the value of your AVC fund wholly as cash you must draw your AVC benefits at the same time as your LGPS pension, or take part of the plan as a tax-free lump sum with the balance being used to provide you with a taxable income for life, or a mixture of both. How much will my income be? You can use your pension fund to create an income. The size of your pension fund, to generate this income will depend upon a many factors such as: the amount that has been paid into the plan how long you have been making payments the performance of the fund(s) you have invested in the age you choose to take your benefits the amount of charges you ve paid. The size of your income will depend upon many factors including how you draw your pension. 20 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

21 What happens if I die before I take my benefits? If you die before you start taking your benefits we ll pay the value of your AVC plan as a lump sum according to the instructions of your Administering Authority. This will usually be to your spouse, civil partner, nominated dependant or legal representative. Pensions Freedom & Choice Since the 6th April 2015 the Government gave everyone, from age 55, the flexibility to take their money purchase pensions savings as cash, with 25% of it tax-free. Your AVC comes with a benefit that Freedom and Choice doesn t offer. You can already take your AVC as cash, and you can take 100% of it tax-free, at the same time as your main scheme (as long as it isn t more than 25% of the combined value of your main scheme benefits and AVC). If you do want to access your AVC benefits flexibly under Freedom and Choice, you can transfer your AVC pot from the age of 55 (without having to take your LGPS pension) to another product. We recommend you get guidance or advice to help you with this decision. Pension Wise is a new service from the Government that will offer free and impartial guidance. It also contains details on where to find an adviser. Visit Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 21

22 Other information How to contact us If you have a financial adviser, please continue to use them as your first point of contact. If you don t have a financial adviser, you can call our UK based dedicated support team on The opening hours are 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday. You can also contact us by: Post: Prudential Lancing BN15 8GB Website: Guidance Guarantee In addition to the advice your Financial Adviser can provide, we recommend you use Pension Wise, a new service from the Government that will offer free and impartial guidance. This service will be available on the internet, over the telephone, or face to face. Find out how to access this by visiting How to make a complaint If your complaint is advice related please contact your financial adviser. If we do anything that you re unhappy about, we ll always try to put it right if we can. To do this we need to know exactly what the problem is. So please write to us with all the details of what has happened. 22 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

23 Please send your complaint to: Prudential Customer Relations Unit Lancing BN15 8GB Copies of our complaint handling procedures are available from this address. If you d rather phone, you can call us on To make sure we have an accurate record of what you tell us, we may monitor or record your call. We hope that we ll be able to handle your complaint in a way that satisfies you. But if we can t, you can speak to one of the following organisations: The Financial Ombudsman Service Exchange Tower Harbour Exchange Square London E14 9SR Telephone: The Pensions Ombudsman 11 Belgrave Road London SW1V 1RB Telephone: The Pensions Advisory Service (TPAS) 11 Belgrave Road London SW1V 1RB Telephone: Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 23

24 The Pensions Advisory Service is an independent, government funded body that gives free advice to members of the public about pensions. These are free services. Using them won t affect your right to take legal action. We can help you find the appropriate organisation to handle your complaint. Your client category and why it matters The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is the independent financial services regulator. It asks companies to categorise their clients based on their involvement in and familiarity with financial services. This helps to make sure we send the right information to the right people. For example, information for an individual customer should assume less knowledge than information for a financial services company. You re categorised as a retail client. This means you get the highest level of protection by getting the clearest explanation of what you re buying and more detail about the risks. This means the information we send you is clear, balanced and indicates any relevant risks. Your category does not affect your right to lodge a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service. If you have any questions about your client category, or think your category should be different, please call our Customer Service Team on Conflict of interest We want to make sure that we uphold our reputation for conducting business with integrity. That s why we have drawn up a policy to deal with any conflicts of interest. If you would like to know the full details of our Conflict of Interest Policy, please contact our Customer Service Team on Law The law and courts of England and Wales will decide any dispute. 24 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

25 FCA Registration Prudential Assurance Company Limited is entered on the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) Register, Firm Reference Number The FCA Register is a public record of all the organisations that the FCA regulates. You can contact the FCA at: The Financial Conduct Authority 25 The North Colonnade Canary Wharf London E14 5HS Telephone: or Prudential Regulation Authority contact details: The Prudential Regulation Authority Bank of England, Threadneedle St, London EC2R 8AH Telephone: Compensation We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). You may be entitled to compensation from the Scheme if we cannot meet our obligations. This depends on your eligibility, the type of business, the fund/s invested in or the funds selected and the circumstances of the claim. For more information on the FSCS and examples of limits in the scope of FSCS for your plan, please go to the webpage for more details. Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 25

26 For further information contact: The Financial Services Compensation Scheme 10th Floor, Beaufort House 15 St Botolph Street London EC3A 7QU Telephone: or Prudential policyholders are not protected by the FSCS against the insolvency of other companies within the Prudential group or an external company. This means that the FSCS does not provide protection: (i) for Prudential unit-linked funds which are invested solely in funds operated by another company within the Prudential group (for example, unit trusts or Open Ended Investment Companies operated by another company within the Prudential group); or (ii) for externally-linked funds. However, it should be noted that the money policyholders invest in a fund is kept separate from the assets of the actual company that manages the fund. This is often known as ring fencing of assets. The liabilities of these funds are normally limited to the assets owned by the fund, so the likelihood of insolvency is very low. Unit prices may fluctuate in line with the value of the assets owned by the fund, but this is normal investment risk. If another company from within the Prudential group or an external company becomes insolvent and we cannot recover the full value of the units, Prudential will not be liable for the shortfall. 26 Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales

27 Prudential s liability Our liability under any fund that we make available under the AVC Plan cannot exceed the value of the assets underpinning that fund, whether these assets are actual assets, an interest in another fund (whether managed by a company within the Prudential group or by an external company) or an interest in a reinsurance policy effected by us to reinsure our liability under a fund. In particular, for the type of funds listed in one and two above, our liability is limited to the amount we can claim from the relevant company. So, for example, if the external company or the other company within the Prudential group, were to become insolvent, we could only pay the amount, if any, which we could collect under the insolvency in respect of the units allocated to the plan. In addition, we are not liable for any losses caused by the acts and omissions of an external company in respect of its own fund and/or the externally-linked fund. Thank you for taking the time to read this document. We d love to know what you think of it. Was it easy to understand? Could we make it better? Please take a few minutes to let us know at Key Features of the Local Government Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVC) Scheme for England & Wales 27

28 Prudential is a trading name of The Prudential Assurance Company Limited, which is registered in England and Wales. This name is also used by other companies within the Prudential Group. Registered office at Laurence Pountney Hill, London EC4R 0HH. Registered number Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. LAVK /2016

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